Richard Landers, PhD

Landers is the John P. Campbell Distinguished Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Minnesota and president-elect of APA Division 14: Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Tell us a bit about your background. 

My research focuses on using psychological science to build, evaluate, and understand how technologies can support employee hiring, training, and development. I’m also a research methodologist focused on the use of technology, especially data science and artificial intelligence, to support both quantitative and qualitative research. I’ve received funding from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Defense to explore these topics. My past editorial experience includes serving as associate editor of Computers in Human Behavior and the International Journal of Selection and Assessment.

Why is this journal important for the field?

Technology has changed and continues to change almost every aspect of society. Yet these changes often are driven by technology providers whose primary incentives center on profitability and shareholder value. Psychology, in contrast, has a long and rich tradition of carefully considering both the effectiveness and ethics of interventions and systems that influence human behavior. Thus, psychology is an important voice in the future of technology—if we choose to use it and then use it well. As a result, my primary goal for Technology, Mind, and Behavior is to position it as the authoritative voice at the intersection of psychological science and technology, creating a go-to destination for both publishing and finding trustworthy research on how technology impacts everyone and what to do about it.

What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the field and the journal?

Because technology is inherently interdisciplinary, itself the outcome of an eclectic blend of humanism, science, and engineering, it’s challenging to study effectively solely through the lens of psychology. Thus, a major goal of the journal is to recognize and elevate effective integrations of psychological and technical expertise in sociotechnical systems. This work means questioning well-established silos of expertise both within psychology and across other research disciplines. This challenge aims directly at many researchers’ professional identities, which are built around deep, authoritative expertise in a specific, narrow area. It also confronts academic incentive systems, which often reward publishing narrow findings in highly respected but highly specialized journals.

Unfortunately, this traditional siloed approach alone has been shown insufficient to solve multifaceted real-world technology problems. Psychology must instead embrace the complexity, the interdisciplinarity, and the messiness to effect real change. Waiting until the damage is done and writing about it from a single lens does far less societal good than engaging proactively and integrating disparate philosophies and perspectives. So, despite the difficulties of using a more proactive interdisciplinary approach, encouraging and rewarding it is the best way to ensure that technology serves humanity instead of the other way around.

What advice would you offer new authors hoping to publish in the journal?

Addressing messy real-world problems sometimes involves using messy real-world methods, and such approaches are often viewed suspiciously in siloed journals.I urge authors to be honest and unafraid of the trade-offs inherent in such research when submitting to Technology, Mind, and Behavior. The journal is intended as a research home for those who face this challenge—those who are tackling the complex issues facing society involving technology with rigorous interdisciplinary science grounded in psychological methods and perspectives. Do not be afraid of sacrificing a little internal validity in exchange for ecological validity if that is what is best for your research; instead, be transparent and explicit about that decision and explain its impact on the conclusions clearly.

APA Publishing is proud to support the association’s mission to promote psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives. How will your editorship further support this mission? 

Technology, Mind, and Behavior’s mission centers on the eventual authentic applications of its published research to improve society. I believe that the purpose of all research is to contribute, directly or indirectly, to a better world for all. Without a plausible path from a present research effort toward this future, it is difficult to justify the resources spent on conducting it. Thus, my goal is that all research published in the journal has a clear path toward meaningful impact. Sometimes, the findings can be applied immediately, and sometimes, trustworthy results will be known only after a long research program. However, there must always be a meaningful end-purpose somewhere ahead, and that’s what will make the journal truly matter.